Tuesday, December 20, 2011

I'm Getting Better All The Time!

Well, this is interesting especially for those who still worry about eating too much fat. My lipid tests just came back. I had my tests done just after about two weeks on the "fat fast" which I was using to get my blood sugars down to normal non-diabetic ranges. During my fat fast I was eating less than 10 grams of carbs a day. My usual day is 35 grams of carbs or less, average protein and higher fat to keep me satisfied and away from snacking.

My triglycerides which were at 245 a year ago are now at 131. Six months ago they were at 173 so that is a drop of more than 40 points. My HDL (healthy) cholesterol is at 48, up from 32 a year ago and up from 40 six months ago. My LDL (bad) cholesterol and my total cholesterol continue to remain about the same all the time at about the borderline levels. I am not too concerned about those levels though since the AHA and ADA continues to advocate for lower and lower levels as they try to get more of the population to take statins. There is no evidence that shows that lower overall cholesterol or lower LDL reduces heart attacks or strokes. There is evidence, however, that high triglycerides do.

The triglycerides to HDL ratio is the most important of the cholesterol markers to determine your risk of cardiovascular disease. High triglycerides alone increase the risk of heart attack nearly three-fold so that is an important number to me. http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/public/796.cfm

I wish they were even lower but I am a work in progress! These numbers numbers are all in good normal ranges and I am certainly healthier than I was a year ago when eating a low fat diet and more so called healthy grains! Now I have given up the grains, pastas and breads except for an occasional bit of brown rice with a stir fry.

I will stick with my bacon and steak, sour cream and healthy green veggies, thank you!

About Sandy

Hi, I'm Sandy. I'm married, have 3 grown kids and two granddaughters, 7 year old Delia and 4 year old Corabelle.
I retired from my banking job in Nov. 2014 to pursue a diploma course in Nutritional Therapy and Detox Specialist with a Functional Medicine slant.
I was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes in December of 2009. I went in for my routine physical which included a fasting glucose test. It was 225 that day. A follow-up A1c test was 8.6 clearly proving what I didn't want to be true. Like my mother, my brother, my sister and the generation before us, I had finally crossed over. I had not dodged the bullet. After the shock and my 3 week long pity party I became determined to find a way to manage and reverse it.
This is where I began my blog. I have been learning to manage diabetes since 2009 with a basic low carb diet and beginning in Dec. 2012, a high fat, low carb ketogenic diet.
A ketogenic diet is the diet that I currently eat and advocate for all type 2 diabetics to keep blood sugar in or close to normal non-diabetic range.
It is my desire to share my journey with other type 2 diabetics to perhaps aid them in their own journeys.